1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display panel structure composed of a display substrate having a display unit and a circuit board. The present invention also relates to an image forming apparatus having the display panel structure.
2. Description of Related Art
An image forming apparatus, such as a printer, a copier, or facsimile equipment, has an operation panel for an operator to directly operate the image forming apparatus without a personal computer or a host device. In the operation panel, there are provided an operation unit substrate having an operation unit such as an operation button on a circuit board, and a display substrate having a display unit to display information related to an operation. The operation unit and the display unit are arranged such that they are exposed from an opening provided in a part of a housing of the image forming apparatus. An operation panel having such a constitution has been disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 10-161382.
In an image forming apparatus, there are often limitations in a position for mounting the operation panel due to a device design or device size. For this reason, the display unit substrate and the operation unit substrate are preferably mounted in a small space.
To simplify the structure of the operation panel, it can be suggested to fabricate the display unit substrate and the operation unit substrate as a single substrate. In a display unit substrate for mounting a small component such as a liquid crystal display panel, it is usually necessary to provide a fine circuit layout. On the other hand, in an operation unit substrate for mounting a relatively large component such as an operation button, it is not necessary to provide a fine circuit layout. Accordingly, in order to fabricate the display unit substrate and the operation unit substrate as a single substrate, the substrate has to be fabricated according to specification of the display unit substrate that requires the fine circuit layout. In this case, while it is possible to reduce a size of the substrate, it is difficult to reduce manufacturing cost of the substrate itself.
In addition, when the display unit substrate and the operation unit substrate are fabricated as a single substrate, there is a limited space between the display unit substrate and the operation unit substrate, thereby making it difficult to mount a component between the substrates. Therefore, the substrate has to be made larger so as to be able to mount a component, thereby increasing the mounting space.
When the display unit substrate and the operation unit substrate are disposed separately, the following effects are expected. When the image forming apparatus are shipped to various countries where different language are used, it is necessary to adjust display control so as to be able to display information in the language used in the country. At this time, when the display unit substrate and the operation unit substrate are separately provided, it is easy to change the display unit substrate according to different specifications. Therefore, when the display unit substrate and the operation unit substrate are separately provided, the specification difference in the devices can be flexibly followed.
On the other hand, when the display unit substrate and the operation unit substrate are mounted to the image forming apparatus, those have to be mounted so that the display unit can be easily seen, i.e. the display unit has to be able to be visually checked, by an operator. For this reason, in a conventional image forming apparatus, the display unit substrate and the operation unit substrate are mounted in a state inclined relative to the image forming apparatus, so that an angle of the display unit is perpendicular to a direction of the operator's view.
When the display unit substrate and the operation unit substrate are mounted in a state inclined relative to the image forming apparatus, a space required for mounting the substrates increases, thereby increasing a size of the image forming apparatus.
In view of the problems described above, an object of the invention is to provide a display panel structure capable of reducing a size of an image forming apparatus, while an operator can easily see the display unit.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.